osidemedia/higgsfield-ai-prompt-skill/higgsfield-pipeline

Higgsfield Production Pipeline

QUICK FACTS

Generated-checked block (scripts/build_index.py verifies anchors). Read the linked sections for full context — these lines are routing aids, not the rules themselves.

• 8-stage Master Chain: Popcorn → Seedream/Soul → Animate → Recast → Lipsync → Vibe Motion → Upscale → Assemble; most good short-form uses 3–5 stages →
• Lock 9 project fields before touching any tool; "what must stay consistent" is the load-bearing one →
• One job per scene — six scene purposes; a good scene prompt answers six questions →
• 7 reusable prompt-module types: character identity, camera, lighting, style, motion, negative prompt, continuity →
• 80% rule: keep what worked, fix only the mistake; every diagnosed failure becomes a new negative rule →
• Build in 8 passes: Concept → Project script → Scene breakdown → Shot list → Image prompts → Video prompts → Review → Fix →
• Use the EXACT same character description (copy-paste) in every Popcorn prompt — continuity without Soul ID →
• Seedream edits the image, not the video — always edit the Hero Frame before animating, never after →
• Model by scene type: Seedance 2.0 / Minimax Hailuo 2.3 for stunts/epic ("one continuous shot, no cuts"), Kling 2.6 portraits, Seedance quiet interiors →
• Recast swaps identity while preserving motion, camera, and lighting; the "prompt" is the reference image you upload →
• Audio routing: existing video + speech → Lipsync Studio; new content with audio → Kling 3.0; talking head → Seedance 1.5 Pro (start image + native audio) or Kling Avatars 2.0 (not in the API catalog, 2026-09-26 — verify in the live UI) →
• Higgsfield has no native timeline editor — assemble in DaVinci Resolve / Premiere / CapCut →
• Pipeline E hard rules: 15-second cap per scene, one generation per style, feed the previous scene's video as continuity reference →
• Soul Cinema keyframes: deliberately short 5–15 word prompts with enhancer ON — long prompts starve the enhancer →
• Never describe character age in Seedance prompts; >15s per scene degrades prompt adherence — split the scene →
• No extend button: attach the accepted clip as a video reference + open with "The scene continues." — and match the source's resolution AND duration →
• Cap seamless extension chains at 2 (hard ceiling 3); re-anchor from ORIGINAL canonical refs, break chains with B-roll →
• An attached source clip carries the state — prompt only the delta; motion vectors, camera-move phase, audio phase stay in prose when handing off from a still frame →
• End extension prompts on a camera-angle change so the join reads as coverage; plan transitions ahead (last-channel-on-TV trick) →
• Draw a top-down schema when 2+ characters, a key prop placement, or complex camera geometry — prompt in absolute terms ("A 2m from B") →
• Never animate a "good enough" image; if the character looks wrong in the Hero Frame, Recast is the fix — not the animation prompt →
• [FIELD] The edit is a loop with a declared exit: assembly → rough cut → generation supervision (re-generate broken shots here, and only here) → fine cut → picture lock, after which there are no new generations; colour's first job is unifying each generation's baked-in grade →

The Core Insight

Every Higgsfield tool is strong individually. The real power is when you chain them. A professional result almost always involves at least 3 tools in sequence. This skill documents the key chains and how to prompt for each stage.

Building Complete AI Projects — The 10-Step Methodology

The Core Insight above answers why you chain tools. The next question is how to plan the project before any tool is touched. Most people skip planning and start prompting straight from a creative impulse — a generation here, a clip there, hoping the pieces will connect. They don't. A project that's planned at the script and bible level lands consistently; a project assembled prompt-by-prompt drifts on character, style, and continuity within three or four generations.

This section documents a 10-step methodology for building complete AI projects — from idea through finished sequence — that sits upstream of the Master Production Chain below. Use these 10 Steps as a planning discipline; use Pipelines A-E to execute the tool-level chain once your project plan is locked. The closing § Simple Workflow gives the imperative-action version of the same 10 Steps if you want the execution recipe before the principles.

Step 01 — Start With the Project, Not the Prompt

Before writing a single prompt, define what you are building. The AI cannot read your intent; if you skip this step the model fills in the gaps with whatever the prompt happens to suggest, and the project drifts within the first few generations.

Lock these nine fields before any tool is touched:

• Project type
• Main subject
• Visual style
• Scene goal
• Audience
• Mood
• Length
• Setting
• What must stay consistent

The last field is the load-bearing one. If you don't know what must stay consistent across the project, every other field can be locked and the result will still feel disjointed.

Step 02 — Build a Master Script

A Master Script is the project blueprint — the single document that keeps every scene connected to the same goal. It does not have to be a Hollywood screenplay; it just needs to explain the full idea clearly.

Master Script disambiguation. "Master Script" in this

context means the structured project document, not a screenplay.

The source explicitly notes "it does not have to be a Hollywood

screenplay; it just needs to explain the full idea clearly."

This is distinct from Hollywood screenplay craft (slug lines,

action lines, character cues, transitions) — that's a different

discipline and is not in this skill's scope.

The Master Script should include:

• The story or concept
• The scene order
• The main characters or products
• The visual style
• The camera rules
• The setting
• The emotional tone
• The continuity rules
• What should never happen

Without a Master Script, each prompt becomes its own random island. With one, every prompt belongs to the same project — characters carry between scenes, the visual style holds, and the negative rules ("what should never happen") stay out of the output.

Step 03 — Use GPT as Your Creative Assistant

Do not use GPT like a magic button. Use it like a creative team member. GPT plays five distinct roles in the project pipeline:

• Concept Builder — turns a rough idea into a structured

concept

• Script Writer — drafts the Master Script from the concept
• Shot List Planner — breaks the script into scene-by-scene

shot lists

• Prompt Refiner — turns each shot into image or video prompt

text

• Problem Solver — diagnoses failed generations and rewrites

the offending prompt

The key is staging. Do not ask GPT to do everything at once. Ask for the project structure first. Then the scenes. Then the prompts. Then the revisions. The output quality at every stage depends on the input quality of the prior stage; cascading the work in order gives you control over each handoff.

In-platform alternative. Higgsfield has an in-platform GPT-5

copilot (Higgsfield Assist at higgsfield.ai/chat) trained

specifically on Higgsfield's tools and workflows. For quick

in-platform prompt generation and platform-navigation questions,

see ../higgsfield-assist/SKILL.md. For upstream project

staging across multiple sessions, an external GPT (Claude,

ChatGPT) running this 10-step methodology is the better fit

because state carries across the full project, not just the

current platform session.

Step 04 — Separate the Script From the Prompt

The script is what happens. The prompt is how the AI shows it. These are two different artifacts that serve two different purposes — keep them in separate documents, and don't let prompt-shaped instructions leak into the script.

A script line might read:

"She walks into the room and realizes something is wrong."

The same beat, as a prompt, reads:

"A woman slowly enters a dim apartment from the hallway. Camera

stays in front of her at chest height, tracking backward as she

steps forward. Her eyes move toward an overturned chair and

broken lamp. Warm hallway light behind her, cold blue window

light across the room. Her face tightens as she realizes

something is wrong."

The prompt decomposes the beat into four production-instruction categories:

• Camera Notes — wide shot, eye-level, shallow depth of field,

focus on subject's expression

• Lighting Direction — dim, cinematic, cool blue ambient from

window, single warm lamp in corner

• Subject Movement — slow, hesitant walk, pauses mid-step,

tense posture, hand to mouth

• Environment Detail — cluttered, atmospheric, dust motes,

shadows in corners, sense of foreboding

The script gives story. The prompt gives visual instructions. You need both, in separate documents, with the script feeding the prompt rather than collapsing into it.

Separation rule axis distinction. This is the project-level

separation — script (story) from prompt (AI instruction). For

the prompt-level separation within a single shot — Identity (who

is in frame) from Motion (what they do and how the camera moves)

— see ../higgsfield-prompt/SKILL.md § Identity vs. Motion

Separation Rule and ../higgsfield-soul/SKILL.md § Identity vs.

Motion Separation. Different axes of the same overall

composition problem; both apply.

Step 05 — Create a Project Bible

A Project Bible is a single document that locks in the rules of the project — character appearance, environment, style, what must stay consistent, what must never appear. It is especially important for any project with multiple scenes, because consistency comes from repetition and clear rules, not from the AI inferring intent.

The Project Bible should lock in:

• Character appearance
• Wardrobe
• Hair
• Color palette
• Location
• Lighting style
• Camera style
• Tone
• Props
• Negative rules
• Continuity rules

Three rules of thumb make a Project Bible work in practice:

• If your character is supposed to look the same every time,

describe them the same way every time.

• If your product is the focus, make sure the product stays the

focus.

• If your scene takes place in one location, do not let the AI

redesign the room every shot.